President's Choice

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Recent Tasting Notes

67

There’s two “english” PC products in tea bags, the Traditional English and English Breakfast – and the English Breakfast is a little more expensive.

Now I like my tea strong, but i’m impatient so i’ll stir. I use boiling water and literally 25 seconds of steeping and a quick stir afterwards. This tea bag is not forgiving when it comes to steeping. It will become overbearing, and lose all the pleasant malty notes it has from a very brief steep.

But way, way better than Tetley, Red Rose or PG Tips. I’d compare it closely to Twinings Irish more than anything else I think. You just have to handle it properly.

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec

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61

To be fair, these have been lost at the back of my cupboard for a year and a half, largely because I can never remember if it’s the PC cranberry that’s terrible or the pomegranate. I have both.

Steeping this up today I get a vivid red liquor and a smell strongly reminiscent of hibiscus…Which I just noted is of course the first ingredient. That implies to me that the cranberry is the one I always thought was bad. There’s a tinge of a cinnamon smell in there as well, and something that (excuse me) reminds me of vomit. I’m trying to ignore that note…

First sips come in much milder and sweeter than I would expect. I’m not getting the hibiscus right off, but instead a sweet fruit smell (wouldn’t call it cranberry). As I sit with this mug the flavours will change, I know, since hibiscus seems to take the lead as tea cools, but this is a good start.

A few sips in I am finding it a bit more tart. As the beau suggested, I think a tiny drop of honey would work to sooth the hibiscus and possibly enhance the “cranberry” flavour. Of course cranberry is tart on it’s own, so I don’t know why they added hibiscus. Cranberry must just not come out strong?

Anyway, it’s drinkable. Very plain and doesn’t stand out, but I remember serving it to friends who’d never had loose leaf and they liked it. Strange to remember the days of picking up all the weird teas PC had for sale and thinking I was really getting a different tea experience. Thank God for loose leaf!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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74

Smells rather like a generic orange pekoe when dry, a very familiar scent. Of course, it doesn’t make any sense since this is supposed to be green tea with lemon and tropical flavouring, but whatever. The beau bought this a while back and then forgot about it, claiming he didn’t like it because it was green. Of course, today I prove him wrong as the package is unopened! Huzzah! I’ve brought it to work to give it a go. I don’t hold out much hope because lately the thought of green tea has been turning my stomache (ever since the 52 Teas Peach Cobbler, sorry Frank : ( ) but it is bagged, so it won’t be proper green anyway. There is a strength of flavour chart on the box, with this at 1 out of 5 leaves. I don’t know if they mean the tea flavour, the additional flavour or both together, but we’ll see.

As usual, I didn’t even read the boz directions. I used the water from work and let it sit a few minutes then took a sip. That way I can keep steeping if needed or toss the bag if not.

Okay. Well! The teabag actually has (small) but identifiable bits of tea in it. That’s different. I’m so used to powdered mush. It’s steeping up a pale but bright yellow liquor. The steeped smell is extremely mild, and sort of like orange tang if anything. The flavour is equally mild – Apparently they meant it when they said 1 out of 5 for flavour. I actually like it, I think the mildness works in its favour, providing a taste experience to pay attention to. No discernible green flavour, at least not the green flavour I don’t like. It’s similar to David’s Tea’s Kyoto Cosmo which I love. It’s basically like that in a tea bag, but a little less strong and a little sweeter. Impressive!

EDIT: The picture I found seems to show a flavour rating of 3 out of 5 but my box definitely only filled in one leaf. Maybe they’ve changed their minds/formula since I bought this..

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 5 min, 30 sec

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64
drank Chai Tea by President's Choice
709 tasting notes

It is an impressive chai that can taste watery after an (accidental!) 11 minute steep. This would be the one to do so though. gah, I want my gingerbread chai!

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64
drank Chai Tea by President's Choice
709 tasting notes

I really need to get myself a good and proper chai. I love chai, I think. But I haven’t found THE one for me yet. Ah well, there are still 3 or 4 more to try from Sawadee, and I love searching!

Anyway, rounding off my day with a few hours at switchboard, so I went for the easy to use chai teabag, so I can just pop it in and forget about it. The smell is quite horrendous, I’ve realized, with a mix of wood and soap, but the taste is satisfying enough. Nothing in your face, but not terrible either. Maybe I’ll try another stovetop chai tonight, because this is leaving a weird taste in my mouth.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 0 sec
Daddyselephant

I used to drink the heck out of this tea, but to get it strong enough for me, I usually ended up using 2-3 tea bags. Now I can’t stand it LOL. I’ve turned into a tea snob! Oh noes!

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64
drank Chai Tea by President's Choice
709 tasting notes

Satisfied my desire for tea, albeit not my desire for chai. I think I want a good strong proper stovetop chai. Still nice, though thin.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 5 min, 15 sec
KeenTeaThyme

Have you had the Teavana chai? I know, I know – it’s Teavana. But their blend is the best. I have plenty if you want some. PM me. :)

Uniquity

I’ve never had Teavana…Though I’ve got the impression that they’re the Walmart of teas, LOL. Teavana doesn’t exist in my province…and maybe not in Canada at all? (Obviously online exists though.. :D)

KeenTeaThyme

Uniquity – if you want some, let me know, I can send you some. Not sure if it’s in Canada or not. Teavana is really expensive that’s why I always groan when I reference it. But I’ve been all over trying chais (I’ve gotten around – heehee) and they have the best. Anyhoo, just PM me if you want it. :)

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64
drank Chai Tea by President's Choice
709 tasting notes

In my usual OCD manner, I’ve gone overboard. Since “realizing” I had no chai, I’ve bought 1 chai-like tea, another that is def. chai and found my lovely apple vanilla white chai in the back of my cupboard, as well as these bags. Nonetheless, I still keep wanting to buy more chais. This tea buying ban is not going to go so well.

Anyway, I’ve decided to officially stick with black teas for the day, so I pulled my last chai teabag from my drawer. I’ve got more at home, so I will have to re-stock. I bought these for mulling cider, but they’re not terrible to drink either. On the lighter side of chai, though I would be interested to see if they are more spicy when prepared on stovetop with milk.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 45 sec

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64
drank Chai Tea by President's Choice
709 tasting notes

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64
drank Chai Tea by President's Choice
709 tasting notes

Realized that of all the teas I have, this is the only chai. There is one that is similar to a chai, but not the real deal. Was in the mood for something spicy, so I thought I would give this a go. I am at work so it wasn’t prepared “properly,” but it’s hot so what more can I ask for?

I used my standard “hot” water source and threw in a splash of (cold) milk as there wasn’t any option to heat it. Left the teabag in a few minutes as it was looking pretty watery, et voila!

To be fair, this is a very cheap tea. Chai in a teabag is a bit weird anyway since all the components were smushed down to powder long ago, but still. This is extremely mild. The sort of chai the beau might be willing to drink. One of the spices is kicking up at the end of the sip, but in general it’s pretty smooth. It’s generic, but a nice standard and I will certainly use the rest. It’s nice to have easy bags to pop in the mug while at work. Maybe 2 bags to 1 cup would work better..

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 6 min, 15 sec

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64
drank Chai Tea by President's Choice
709 tasting notes

I haven’t tried this tea on it’s own yet – It’s currently being used to make some apple cider delicious and hot. I know, it’s the lazy way ot but it’s so cost efficient! I don’t imagine it’s terribly great as chai, but when I eventually try it as is I will give it a rating.

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66

I thought this smelled rich and full, like chocolate jumble cookies. There was a nice balance to it, even though it had a bit of Celestial Seasonings Roastaroama to it

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec

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88

I thought this tea was delicious. Honestly, I’m not a heavy tea drinker, but I found this one amazing. It has just enough spices, just a hint of chocolate, and I don’t need to add anything in it, although I DID add a little bit of sugar to give it a little extra taste. I love the smell, When the water is nice and hot, it really does smell chocolatey, even though it doesn’t taste that much. Although my friend was right when she said that i’d get a bit annoyed of the taste after a while. But I definitely recommend this tea to people who like some taste. :)

Preparation
2 min, 0 sec

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100

What I like the most about this tea is no extra work is required. You boil water put in the tea bags and let it steep the whole time if you wish. It taste just as good cold as it does hot. I have been looking for a very lemony tea for quite some time and this is the most lemon flavored one I can find. What I can do is make a large mug and sip on it all day long while I am at work.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more

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98

One of my personal favourites!
Any citrus-lover’s dream, the thriller is vibrant, refreshing, and soothing; perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up or an early morning wake-me-up!

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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87

The zing of ginger combined with the silkiness of fennel are a perfect complement to the fresh peppermint taste. This is one of my top three favourite tisanes currently on the market. I love it.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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29

Trying the ‘Improved’ version of this today, ‘improved’ apparently meaning new, mostly white box and individually wrapped bags.

I don’t smell anything cuminy, thank GAWD. Eugh. I do get minor spiciness, some decent carob with a distant whisper of cocoa. They show ginger and clove on the box, and list ginger in the ingredients, but I’ll be steeped if I can taste any.

Lessee … roasted chicory root (ah, bitterness and barkiness), carob pods, spices (how mysterious), natural flavour (of what, I should like to know), cocoa shells, ginger, licorice root (gag — except I can’t taste it, either), stevia leaves, cocoa.

Usually I run away from anything ‘Chocolatey,’ as it tastes fake.

This is not a disaster. It’s not brilliant, either. A bit like spicy cardboard with carob rubbed into it. My teabag’s been in the cup now 8 minutes and cooling off. It might be better brewed in a pot and kept hot. It gets sweeter and deeper the longer it’s steeped. The carob smells medicinal to me, but then I’ve also encountered it in various health tisanes, like Traditional Medicinals’ PMS Tea. The Chocolatey Chai tastes better than PMS Tea, but then one expects mediciinal teas to be a little harsh. Yeah, cardboard. I go back to cardboard from the back of the spice rack with some carob and cocoa on it.

Okay, at the 9-minute mark it gets bitter and barky, probably from the cocoa shells and carob. I know, 9 minutes is a bit extreme …

I expect I’ll finish the box, if only out of a sense of duty and to ration out my dwindling stash of Super Chocolate from David’s Tea, but I wouldn’t recommend any of my buddies waste their time on this one, ‘improved’ or not.

Maybe if I steeped the box instead …

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more
Michelle Butler Hallett

I want a chai that will warm me to my toes. Lovingly singe my mouth with ginger. Not upset my stomach with too much black tea. This is my Quest.

Michelle Butler Hallett

Haven’t touched this stuff since that first cup. Into the bin it goes.

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80

No notes yet. Add one?

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 8 min or more

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100

Oh I have to admit, unlike everyone who’s rated this, I love, LOVE this tea! Mind you they might have changed the recipe since (the box looks different now). Both me and my coworker loved the scent! It was very comforting and it satisfied my chocolate craving. The taste has a subtle cocoa taste but the chai is dominant. I drink my chai without milk as it reminds me of coffee and I really like the spices (maybe I should try it with milk). For the price and a generic brand, I’m very pleased.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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40

First, I received a SURPRISE in the mail today from Jillian! Thanks Girl!

I can’t say as I am a fan of this smell tho. It’s smells like Chocolate Coffee with CUMIN in it…yes CUMIN. Even tho I don’t think it actually HAS Cumin in it but for some reason that’s all I can think of. It’s extremely dark in color…almost thick looking.

I’m getting a fake chocolate bark-like taste…it’s a tad sweeter at the end tho.

I’m drinking this plain. I am going to rate it pretty low but I am going to attempt this again…maybe with the assistance of some chocolate soy milk or something…lol…

Glad I got to try it tho as I haven’t had much from the company yet. Thanks Jillian!

Jillian

I think the chocolate-bark you’re tasting might be the carob, which is a chocolate substitute. I wasn’t terribly thrilled with this one either but I can tell you that it does taste better with milk. :)

TeaEqualsBliss

I usually like Carob, actually, but yes…I can see what you are saying! :P I am going to try it with milk! Thanks!

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50

After having this tea for quite a while and sort of forgetting about it I’m having another cup. Unfortunately my previous assessment stands: This tea seems rather bland. Mind you I just steeped it in water in a mug rather then the stove top method so that might be to blame, but I put a decent amount in, and left it for almost 10 minutes and still…not a whole lot of flavour. It doesn’t taste bad in any way, just very weak. I certainly don’t find it among the spicier of my chai blends, despite the large chunks of various spices I can see in it.

Drinking with a splash of cream and a teaspoon of honey to give it some substance. Maybe I’ll try the stove top methods next time.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more

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20

I bought this tea very excited – I love chocolate, I love chai, what could go wrong? Apparently quite a lot considering I couldn’t even finish the one box (and my maxim is waste not, want not).

Honestly it just came down to the fact I didn’t (couldn’t) like the taste – much too “chocolatey” and barely any chai. And I put the quotation marks in there because it didn’t taste like chocolate, or even close to. I knew they were going for a chocolate flavour, it had the bull-bodied richness of chocolate, but unfortunately tasted very dusty to me…after I’d take a sip I’d find myself rolling my tongue around trying to figure out/get rid of this strange after taste. All in all, yuck.
Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec
Feisty

UPDATE
After reading some other tasting notes where teas were described as having a “saccharine” taste I realized that this was the after taste from this I couldn’t really name. It tasted like dusty tea with a cloying-bitter saccharine after flavour.

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82

I used up the rest of this today, and then stupidly tried to rip of the label so I could reuse the tin.

Didn’t go over well. I’ll have to look up some online solutions to removing stickers without leaving behind the stick.

I didn’t have enough for two tbsps—came out to one and a half—so I threw in half a tablespoon of Great Wall’s caramel black as well. Afterwards, I used almond milk instead of regular milk, and sweetened with chai.

Delicious. Almond milk doesn’t mask tea as well as regular milk, I think, so it’s got quite a bite to it. I call it Almond Caramel Chai.

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82

I tried this iced. Iced chai, you say? I call it Iced Chai Latte! Although I think lattes have steamed milk in them or something—to constitute the “latte”—but heck if I know, and I like the name. It was inspired by Starbucks. Either because I looked at their menu and saw that they had “iced chai lattes”, or because I looked at the menu and thought “why DON’T they have iced chai lattes”.

It looks like Starbucks’ and Tim Hortons’ iced lattes, at any rate. That coffee cream colour with icecubes, that makes it look like an alcoholic drink—a coffee or chocolate liqueur—because no reasonable person would put icecubes in milk. I didn’t double the recipe because I remember this being so spicey on its own, and it does hold up quite well, although maybe I should have 1 + 1/2’d it or something, because the flavour is slightly weaker with the cold. Still very tastey.

Basically followed the usual stovetop recipe, sweetened with honey, then poured over icecubes. Ended up with three glasses, so the other two are in the fridge. I plan to share.

Very refreshing. The tea and spices aren’t so much in the sip as they are in the trailing aftertaste. But still, it hit the spot. Way better than spending four bucks at Starbucks for something similar. Although I’m sure theirs are sweeter. But mine’s homemade! Mmm.

Now that I think about it, condensed milk might have been an interesting alternative. Well, maybe not ALL condensed milk. Halfandhalf. Not that I have any, but it would have made it sweeter. It’s a thought for next time.

Or a dollop of whipped cream on top. With brown sugar and/or cinnamon sprinkled.

Preparation
Iced
Cofftea

Holy crap I love this tasting note! Yeah if it doesn’t have milk it’s not a latte- it’s just and iced chai. If you blended it, it would almost be a quick iced granita (depending on your chai:ice ratio) or slushy. Starbucks definitely has iced chai lattes, but unfortunately I can’t figure out how to use loose leaf w/ the iced version like I do the hot. Although if you didn’t put milk in yours, I doubt it looks like Starbucks’s version. Sometimes instead of milk I will put a scoop of ice cream (I actually use chocolate frozen yogurt) in the bottom of my glass and pour the chai over it. YUM! If you like chocolate and cayenne, I strongly recommend 52teas’s Mayan Chocolate Chai. It’s got me so spoiled it’s pretty much the only Chai I will drink much less like:)

AJ

I did use milk (added and heated in the pot after the tea steeped), but I figured, since steamed milk is part of what makes a latte a latte (otherwise it would be tea/coffee with milk?), they probably do the same thing/something similar before they ice it to make it a “proper” iced latte. Who knows! I suppose I’d have to look it up.

I should make my first 52Teas order at some point (that one’s on my List, though). Until then, maybe I should try something with Numi’s chocolate puerh. Hmmm.

Cofftea

Ah your 2nd sentence confused me- I thought you meant you skipped milk oops. Yes Numi’s chocolate pu erh is very good w/ milk even though it isn’t a chai- and YES! you need to make a 52teas purchase. In addition to Mayan Chocolate Chai you should try their Mayan Chocolate Pu Erh.

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82

To start, the can smells VERY strongly of cloves and very little else. The tea leaves themselves are quite small, and you can see whole heads of clove and and little pods, and I swore I saw a few pepper seeds in there too.

Followed the label for brewing, but cut it in half because I didn’t really feel like four cups. The instructions are fairly typical for chai I suppose. Was easy enough to make.

Unsweetened, nice cafe colour, first sip… Very spicy! And milky. Perhaps I’ll cut back on the milk (the instructions ask a ratio of 1:1 water milk, and 1tbsp of chai). The spice is somewhat… tasteless. I can taste spice, but nothing in particular. I think I might add a bit of honey and see what that does, although I like it like this too. Luckily it doesn’t taste as it smells. Cloves and nothing else.

Sweetened it… mm, didn’t really bring out any individual flavours. Maybe a little, and now I’m just inexperienced in telling what I’m tasting. Still wonderfully spicy. Mmm. Yeah, I think I taste the cloves now a tad. Cinnamon too, maybe.

I can have trouble with spicy things, so this isn’t my FAVOURITE favourite and I doubt I’d be able to handle drinking it every day. But that’s fine, it’s great for occasions.

Christened my OTHER new teapot with this tea. Mostly because it has a big mesh strainer for me to pour directly from the stove pot into. This one’s quite big. Could probably hold over four cups, wow.

Preparation
Boiling

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